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Find out why your website may be down, including hosting problems, DNS issues, SSL errors, failed updates, malware and traffic spikes.
Find out why your website may be down, including hosting problems, DNS issues, SSL errors, failed updates, malware and traffic spikes.
When a website goes down, the first step is to avoid changing everything at once. A clear check of the domain, DNS, hosting, SSL certificate and recent website changes usually points you towards the cause.
This guide explains the most common reasons websites go offline and what to check first. It is written for business owners, WordPress users and site managers who need a practical troubleshooting order rather than technical guesswork.
If the website is important to your business, take notes as you work through each check. This makes it easier to explain the issue to your host, developer or support team if you need help.
Start by checking whether the issue affects everyone or only you. Then check the domain, DNS, hosting status, SSL certificate and recent website changes.
A website can be down for several reasons. The domain may have expired, DNS records may be wrong, the hosting server may be unavailable, an SSL certificate may have failed, or a recent website update may have broken the site.
The fastest way to troubleshoot is to work from the outside in. First check whether the website is down for everyone. Then check the domain, DNS, SSL and hosting account before looking at plugins, themes, malware or code changes.
Avoid making several changes at once. If you change DNS, restore files and disable plugins all at the same time, it becomes much harder to know what fixed or worsened the issue.
Website downtime usually comes from one of a handful of areas. Checking them in a sensible order helps you avoid unnecessary changes and shortens the time to recovery.
The web server may be unavailable, overloaded or under maintenance.
Incorrect DNS records can stop visitors reaching the correct server.
If the domain expires, the website and email can stop working.
An expired or misconfigured SSL certificate can trigger browser warnings.
Plugin, theme, CMS or code updates can break pages or cause errors.
Malware or compromised files can cause redirects, warnings or blocked access.
Begin by testing the website from more than one connection. If it works on mobile data but not on your office Wi-Fi, the problem may be local caching, a network issue or DNS propagation.
Next, check whether the domain is active, the nameservers are correct and the DNS records point to the right hosting service. If the domain and DNS are correct, check your hosting account for outages, resource limits or suspended services.
If the hosting is online, look at recent changes. A failed WordPress update, plugin conflict, theme error, PHP version change or malware infection can all make a website appear down even when the server itself is working.
| Symptom | Likely Cause | What To Check |
|---|---|---|
| Website will not load at all | Hosting outage, DNS issue or expired domain. | Check status, domain expiry, nameservers and DNS records. |
| Browser shows a security warning | SSL certificate problem. | Check certificate expiry, HTTPS redirects and SSL installation. |
| WordPress shows a critical error | Plugin, theme or PHP conflict. | Review recent updates and error logs. |
| Website is slow then times out | Resource limits or traffic spike. | Check CPU, RAM, database usage and visitor activity. |
| Only some visitors cannot access it | DNS propagation, cache or local network issue. | Test from another device, network and location. |
| Website redirects unexpectedly | Malware, bad redirects or plugin issue. | Check files, plugins, .htaccess and security scans. |
The biggest mistake is panicking and changing too many things at once. Website downtime needs a careful order of checks, otherwise you can make the problem harder to diagnose.
Visitors usually do not know whether the problem is caused by DNS, hosting, SSL, WordPress or a failed update. They only see that the site is unavailable or unsafe to use.
For business websites, downtime can mean missed enquiries, lost bookings, failed checkout attempts and reduced trust. If the outage affects email as well, customers may also struggle to contact the business.
You cannot prevent every outage, but you can reduce risk. Keep backups, monitor uptime, renew domains early, maintain SSL certificates and avoid making major changes without a rollback plan.
For WordPress websites, keep plugins and themes under control. Remove unused plugins, update carefully and avoid stacking multiple plugins that perform the same task.
For business-critical websites, stronger hosting, monitoring and managed support can reduce downtime and help problems get resolved faster.
The website and email stop working because the domain registration was not renewed in time.
A plugin, theme or PHP change causes errors, blank pages or a critical error message.
The domain points to the wrong server, causing the website to disappear or load an old version.
Before changing DNS, plugins or hosting settings, check whether the website is unavailable globally or only from your device or network.
Use the Website Status Checker, then check DNS, SSL and hosting status if the site is still unavailable.
Common causes include hosting outages, DNS problems, expired domains, SSL errors, failed updates, malware or resource limits.
Use a website status checker and test from another device, network or mobile data connection.
Yes. Incorrect nameservers, missing A records or propagation delays can stop visitors reaching the correct server.
Yes. If the domain expires, the website and related email services can stop working.
The SSL certificate may be expired, missing, incorrectly installed or not covering the correct domain version.
Yes. Plugin, theme, PHP or WordPress core updates can sometimes cause errors or conflicts.
Yes. A sudden increase in visitors can exceed hosting resources and cause slow loading or timeouts.
Yes. Malware can trigger security warnings, redirects, blocked pages or hosting suspension.
Only after identifying the likely cause. Restoring too quickly can hide the problem or reintroduce the same issue later.
Use reliable hosting, uptime monitoring, regular backups, early domain renewal, SSL checks and careful update processes.
If your website is still down after checking the domain, DNS, SSL, hosting status and recent website changes, collect the exact error message and contact your hosting provider or developer.
Include what changed recently, when the issue started, whether email is affected and whether the problem appears for everyone or only some visitors.
A calm troubleshooting process is usually faster than guessing. Work through the checks in order and avoid making multiple unrelated changes at once.
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